Dead Lawyers Tell No Tales

by Randy Singer

  “Did you show up the next morning at the airport?”

  “Yes.”

  “And did the caller ever arrive?”

  “No. It was the morning after Erica Jensen’s death.”

  “That’s all the questions I have.”

  75

  IT HAPPENED JUST AS LANDON STOOD—a Harry McNaughten flashback.

  “Remember this,” Harry had said. “Unless you’re watching Perry Mason, the purpose of cross-examination is not always to prove that the witness is lying. In fact, the best cross-examination is when you help the other side’s witness tell the truth. That’s when you’ve really done something.”

  Landon stood there for a fleeting moment, facing Mitchell Taylor. He had a five-page outline of questions, but he put his pad down on the counsel table and decided to go off-script.

  “Who knew about this meeting between you and Erica Jensen?”

  “Myself. My boss. Two of the FBI agents working the case.”

  “Which one of you told Mr. King about that meeting?”

  “None of us.”

  “And you know that how?”

  “We investigated it after Ms. Jensen’s death.”

  “You did? So what did your investigation reveal about how Mr. King allegedly found out about that meeting?”

  “Mr. King must have found out from Ms. Jensen. Perhaps he overheard something. Perhaps he saw something on her computer. We don’t know precisely how he found out.”

  “You don’t know precisely?” Landon asked, his voice rising with incredulity. “Isn’t it fair to say that you have no idea how my client allegedly found out about the meeting?”

  “We don’t know; that’s correct.”

  “But you know it didn’t come from your office.”

  “Correct.”

  “You’re sure about that?”

  “C’mon,” Sherman said, rising. “He’s already answered that question.”

  “Move on,” said Judge Deegan, though she looked a little amused.

  “Based on your recorded phone conversation, it sounds to me like Ms. Jensen was pretty careful about whom she told. Would you agree with that?”

  “She was careful when she talked to me.”

  “And would you agree that if Mr. King didn’t know about the meeting, then stopping that meeting certainly couldn’t have been his motivation for allegedly killing Erica Jensen, could it?”

  “He must have found out somehow. The evidence points to him as the killer. And the timing of the meeting is too coincidental.”

  “Sounds like you don’t believe in coincidences,” Landon said.

  “Most prosecutors and investigators don’t.”

  “Then what would you call the fact that some random driver just happened to be cresting the high-rise bridge in the wee hours of the morning at the exact same time that Erica Jensen’s body was being dumped into the Intracoastal Waterway?”

  Mitchell hesitated and Landon did a mental fist pump. The jurors stared at the witness.

  “I’d call it stupid on the part of your client,” Mitchell Taylor said.

  The man was smart. But he had apparently never learned that sometimes you just had to take your lumps and not dig a deeper hole.

  “My point exactly,” Landon said. “So I’ve got a follow-up question. In all your years working at the U.S. Attorney’s office—the same place where my client previously worked for years as a prosecutor—have you ever heard even one person call Elias King stupid?”

  Landon knew the answer even before Mitchell spoke. Elias King had lots of enemies. Drug lords. Defense lawyers. White-collar criminals. He had undoubtedly been called a lot of derogatory names. But nobody thought he was stupid.

  Landon hoped Mitchell would try to fight him on this, too. If the witness said yes, Landon would ask for names and subpoena them as witnesses. He would quiz Mitchell about Elias King’s well-documented intellect—his law school class rank, his brilliant trial briefs, his Columbo-esque way of figuring out crimes.

  But none of that was necessary. “I’ve never heard Elias King called stupid,” Mitchell admitted.

  “Didn’t think so,” Landon said, and took his seat.

  76

  AS THE PARTIES LEFT CIRCUIT COURT on Tuesday afternoon, a solitary figure stood at the back corner of the J&DR building, hat low on his forehead, sunglasses covering his eyes. He watched from a distance as Franklin Sherman stopped on the steps of the circuit court building, holding forth for the media. He watched Elias King and his team brush aside the media, walk three-abreast down the sidewalk bordering the quad, and disappear around the front of the J&DR building.

  They were creatures of habit—football players and a former prosecutor. People in these professions practiced the same techniques, over and over, until they perfected them. They wore the same lucky socks. They parked in the same parking lot. They took the same path to court every morning.

  Habits make you predictable. Habits allow the enemy to plan.

  He would have a clean shot tomorrow morning, away from the media and the other litigants crowded in front of the circuit court building. The length of the quad was about fifty yards, and the defense team would be walking down the sidewalk next to the quad by themselves, in his direct line of sight, half a football field away.

  He wanted to avoid any collateral damage. He had a job to do. He would do it and be gone before anyone knew what had happened.

  ///

  When Landon and Billy returned to the McNaughten and Clay offices, Landon’s family was waiting for them. Maddie ran up to them and crashed into Landon for a hug. Simba came sliding over as well, tail wagging, panting, licking everyone in sight. Par-tay! In his excitement, he dribbled on the floor.

  Kerri emerged from the conference room and asked how court went. After Landon gave her a quick recap of the day’s events, she asked Billy if he could keep an eye on Maddie and Simba.

  “There’s somebody in the conference room who needs to talk with you,” Kerri said to Landon.

  He followed her back and was introduced to Sean Phoenix. The two men sized each other up and exchanged firm handshakes. What is he doing here? Landon wondered.

  Kerri closed the conference-room doors and everybody had a seat. “Landon, you know that Cipher Inc. has been conducting their own investigation into the deaths of Harry, Brent, and Rachel,” Kerri explained. “As part of that investigation, they also looked into Erica Jensen’s death because frankly, they had some concerns about Elias King.”

  Landon gave Kerri the eye and was pretty sure she got his message. Why didn’t you tell me about this? We should have talked about this alone.

  “Sean called me today with some information they’ve uncovered,” Kerri said quickly, almost apologetically. “I wanted you to know about it as soon as you got out of court.”

  “I asked if I could come down and explain it myself,” Sean said, his gaze level, his face showing no emotion. “Very few people in our organization even know that we’ve been looking at this. So I didn’t want to send somebody else and bring them into the loop. But also, I’m very grateful for what this firm has done for me and our company in the past. I wanted to return the favor.”

  Landon still suspected there was more to it than that, but he decided not to push the point. He could talk to Kerri later. They always tried to avoid airing their differences in front of people.

  “We don’t know for sure who killed Erica Jensen, but we have a pretty good theory,” Sean said. He spoke as if the police investigation and murder trial were irrelevant—the only thing that mattered was what the great Sean Phoenix concluded.

  “The police locked onto Elias King early, which caused them to have a form of tunnel vision. They didn’t search for things that might implicate other suspects.” He shoved a small pile of documents toward Landon. “Like, for example, a locator search on Julia King’s cell phone.”

  Sean’s gaze was steady and unnerving as he waited for Landon to react. Landon picked up the docume
nts and casually leafed through them.

  “As you may know, Verizon keeps data generated by its cell towers for up to a year,” Sean continued. “By triangulating text messages and phone calls to and from a person’s phone, you can roughly track their location even if they don’t have a GPS device programmed in. We did that with Julia’s phone.”

  Landon wondered how Sean had obtained this information without a subpoena, but that seemed beside the point. Apparently Cipher Inc. could get whatever it wanted.

  Without time to study the documents in detail, Landon couldn’t make much sense of what he was looking at. But he could see where this was headed. “She went there that night?” he guessed.

  “Yes. Julia King went to Erica’s apartment the night of the murder.”

  Landon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Julia had lied to him and to the police. Most likely, Elias knew about her visit and lied as well.

  “The police ran a locator search on Elias’s phone that night, didn’t they?” Landon asked, trying to remember.

  “They did. If he went to Erica’s apartment, he didn’t take his phone.” Sean glanced at Kerri. It was obvious the two of them had already reasoned through the possibilities.

  “We know Julia found out about the affair on Sunday night,” Sean continued. “Maybe she stewed on it for a day and on Monday night went to the apartment to confront Erica. Let’s say she freaked out and dropped the GHB in Erica’s drink and strangled her that night. Maybe she told her husband. He cleans up the apartment, wipes down the fingerprints, and disposes of the body. In his haste, he makes a few uncharacteristic mistakes.

  “But there’s another theory, one you might not like quite so well. Perhaps Julia goes there on Monday night and confronts Erica. Maybe Erica is already angry because Elias has decided not to leave Julia. Maybe Elias had originally promised Erica he was going to get a divorce but now he’s backing out. So Erica tells Julia that her husband is not the man either of them thought he was. She tells Julia about the insider trading. She says she’s going to the Feds. Maybe Julia runs home and confronts Elias about the insider trading allegations. You can guess the rest.”

  Landon nodded. Sean was right; the meeting between Julia and Erica could cut both ways. At worst, it would give the prosecution a way to plug one of the weaknesses in their case—how had Elias found out that Erica was going to the Feds?

  There were still a lot of unanswered questions. The date rape drug demonstrated premeditation. Julia didn’t seem capable of cold-blooded, premeditated murder. And if Elias didn’t find out that Erica was going to the Feds until that night, where would he get the date rape drug so quickly? And why would Elias dump a body off the high-rise bridge?

  After twenty minutes of discussion, there was only one thing that everybody agreed on. Elias and Julia King had been lying to their lawyers from day one.

  “What are you going to do?” Kerri eventually asked.

  Landon gathered up the documents. “Have a little talk with Elias King.”

  77

  BILLY INSISTED ON TAGGING ALONG for security reasons, but Landon made him wait in the car. When they arrived at the King house, Julia was doing the dishes. At Landon’s request, she took a break to join him and Elias in the living room.

  “Where’s Jake?” Landon asked.

  “Upstairs in his room,” Julia said tentatively. “Do we need him?” She looked from Landon to Elias. She was smart enough to know that a lawyer making house calls meant trouble.

  “No, that’s fine,” Landon said.

  When they settled in, Landon got right to the point. There was no good way to do this. “I’ve been doing some additional investigation in this matter,” he said, watching for reactions on the faces of Julia and Elias. “I had Julia’s phone triangulated for the night of Erica’s death.” He paused as Julia’s face reddened. Elias, a seasoned pro, showed no expression. “I know you went to Erica’s apartment that night.”

  When his accusation was met with silence, Landon had his answer. Julia looked at her husband and he answered for them both.

  “Why were you checking Julia’s location? That wasn’t part of our defense.”

  “I’ve had a lot of investigative work done.”

  “Without telling me? You should have told me if you were going to do something like that.”

  Landon felt his blood pressure rising. He was already frustrated with Elias for lying. Now the man was trying to put Landon on the defensive? “I’m not the one who’s been lying to his lawyer,” Landon said, his voice sharp. His look dared Elias to take him on—Landon would walk in a heartbeat. “If you want me on this case, I’d better start finding out what happened. Why Julia went there. How long she was there. And whether Erica was still alive when Julia left.”

  “Of course she was still alive,” Elias said.

  “How do I know that? How did her body get in the trunk of your car?”

  Elias stood, his jaw set. “This is why I didn’t tell you about it before. I don’t need my own lawyer jumping to conclusions. The prosecutors and media are already doing a fine job of that.”

  Landon held out his palms. “That’s it? I ask an honest question and I get a lecture?”

  “Can we just calm down?” Julia asked, looking at Elias. “Landon’s entitled to an explanation. He’s been with us from the beginning, and I can understand why he’s upset.”

  Elias hesitated, torn between his pride and Julia’s appeal to reason. “You’re right,” he said. He nodded at Landon. “I’m sorry.” He sat back down.

  “Julia went over there that night,” Elias said, choosing his words carefully. “When she left our house, I had no idea where she was going. As I told you, she learned about me and Erica the night before, on Super Bowl Sunday, after reading a few of my text messages. We talked on Monday, argued a lot, and she drove to Erica’s apartment and confronted her. When she returned, she told me what she’d done, and we got into it again. But I never went out there that night, and Julia never went back. I swear to God, we have no idea who killed Erica Jensen.”

  Landon looked at Julia. “Is that true?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?”

  Chastened by the question, Julia said nothing. Her reaction gave Landon the impression that the deception was all Elias’s idea.

  “This is why,” Elias said, his voice softer than before. “Because nobody would believe us, not even our own lawyer.”

  “It’s hard to believe you when you’ve been lying from the beginning.”

  For a few moments, nobody spoke. This time Julia broke the silence. “Where do we go from here?”

  “I think we have to put you on the stand,” Landon said. “Tell what happened that night. If we’re lucky, Sherman will try to prove you’re lying, thinking you’re just trying to save Elias. That’s when we break out the cell records.”

  “Sherman’s not that dumb,” Elias countered. His voice had a tone of resignation, as if he’d thought this scenario through already and knew the inevitable outcome. “He’ll claim that Erica told Julia she was going to the Feds. That’s how he’ll say I found out—through Julia.”

  “I’ve thought about that,” Landon said. “But it doesn’t make sense. Why would Erica tell Julia about the meeting with Mitchell Taylor?”

  “Julia’s not taking the stand,” Elias said, ignoring the question.

  “I don’t think you’re in any position to be issuing ultimatums.”

  “I’m still the client, Landon. And on matters like this, the client calls the shots.”

  Landon tilted his head. This was unbelievable. “Why are you so unyielding about this?”

  “If Julia takes the stand and we win, what do you think Sherman’s going to do?”

  “I don’t know,” Landon admitted.

  “Yes, you do. We all do. He’s going to turn around and indict Julia.”

  Landon couldn’t argue with the man. Based on the evidence, he wouldn�
�t fault Sherman for seeking such an indictment.

  “I can’t let that happen,” Elias continued. “So she’s not taking the stand.”

  Landon wondered what Harry would do in a situation like this. He reminded himself what Harry had said about this case many times—that they only had one client, Elias King.

  “Let’s cross that bridge later,” Landon suggested. “We’ve got plenty of prosecution witnesses to focus on first.”

  But Elias wouldn’t let it go. “I’ve got one other question,” he said. “Who else knows about this?”

  Landon swallowed hard. He hadn’t anticipated this question. “Billy. Kerri. The investigator.”

  “Who’s that?”

  Harry had taught Landon a thing or two about cross-examination. You sit down and think about the questions in advance. You brainstorm how the witness might answer. You have a follow-up question for every possibility. “It’s like chess,” Harry had said. “You’ve got to think two moves ahead.”

  But Landon had been too frustrated to do that. He had wanted to confront and cross-examine Elias immediately. Now Landon was the one with some explaining to do. “Sean Phoenix and some of his men are helping investigate the deaths of my partners,” Landon said. At the mention of Phoenix’s name, he saw Elias stiffen. “In the context of that investigation, they discovered this information.”

  “In the context of that investigation?” Elias shot back. “Why would they be looking at Julia’s cell phone records in the context of that investigation?”

  Even as he spoke, it dawned on him. Landon could tell by the flash in his eyes. “You think I’m somehow tied to the murder of your partners?”

  Landon held up a hand to slow things down. “Not you. But maybe something about your case.”

  He tried to explain further, but everyone’s nerves were on edge. Landon felt betrayed by a lying client. Elias didn’t like his lawyer going behind his back, especially with a group like Cipher Inc. The men raised their voices, and the frustrations of the last few days came to the surface.